Learning Disabilities

Providing the Right Support for Individuals with Learning Difficulties

A learning disability affects the way a person understands information and how they communicate. This means they can have difficulty understanding new or complex information, learning new skills and coping independently.

A learning disability can be mild, moderate or severe and around 1.5 million people in the UK have a learning disability with up to 350,000 people having a severe learning disability.

Some adults with a learning disability are able to live independently, while others need help with everyday tasks, such as washing and dressing, for their whole lives.

Sometimes there’s no known cause for a learning disability but usually a learning disability happens when a person’s brain development is affected, either before they’re born, during their birth or in early childhood.

With the right support, most people with a learning disability in the UK can lead independent lives.